From TV to Web: Tiny Planets

by Anne on June 17, 2010

As many parents know, adopting a virtual pet and caring for it is a mainstay of kids’ virtual worlds. Well, in the brand-new Web version of the animated TV series Tiny Planets, kids adopt and care for a planet (as well as pilot spaceships and play mini-games). That’s at MyTinyPlanets.com, just one of the seven Web sites that make up the Tiny Planets presence on the Web. Others are TinyPlanetsFun.com (games, puzzles, coloring, etc.), …TV.com, …Books.com, …Learning.com, and …Labs.com. As in other virtual worlds, users win awards and higher ranking while playing games, in this case “Stars.” There’s also virtual currency called “KEYs,” which buy new landscapes for one’s planet, spaceships, cadet accessories (your avatar’s a “cadet”), and interactive books. Popular activities include playing games, completing missions, and “gardening” in one’s biodome. Safety measures include no open chat (users choose from pre-written phrases), “no email addresses, no personalized names, no personal details,” says the Tiny Planets press release. See ConnectSafely’s virtual world safety tips for parents of kids and teens.

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As a public service for parents, educators, and everyone interested in young people’s use of technology, NetFamilyNews is the “community newspaper” of a vital interest community. Founded in 1999, it has become the journal-of-record on all aspects of youth and technology, serving readers in more than 50 countries.
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